Lamine Yamal has been ruled out of Barcelona's Champions League opener against Newcastle United on Thursday after failing to recover from a groin injury in time.

Yamal, 18, went into the international break last week managing some pain and took painkillers to feature in Spain's World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria and Turkey .

He was subsequently forced to miss Barça's 6-0 LaLiga win against Valencia last weekend and has not trained this week.

As a result, he has not been named in the squad which flies to Newcastle on Wednesday.

Midfielder Gavi and left-back Alejandro Balde are also missing with injuries, but Frenkie de Jong has been cleared to return to action.

Yamal's injury has been a cause for contention between Barça and Spain , with club coach Hansi Flick accus

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